Our sermons are only a part of our Sunday morning, but they are an important part – they are the Word of God presented to us in our context so that we can repent, seek to amend our lives, and receive God’s grace through the power of the Gospel.
About the Fourth Sunday of Easter: The fourth Sunday of Easter is often called “Good Shepherd Sunday” because the readings traditionally center around the image of Jesus as a shepherd. Even in the book of Revelation, Jesus is pictured as a shepherd – here a sort of ironic shepherd, a Lamb who is a shepherd.…
About the Third Sunday of Easter: The readings this week revolve around the idea of worthiness. In the reading from the book of Revelation, we see that it is only the Lamb, who is Jesus, that is found worthy. No others are worthy of the responsibility and action of heaven. Because we learn that it…
About Easter Sunday: Alleluias return to the sanctuary of University Lutheran as we consider emptiness again, but this time joyously, as we consider the empty tomb of our Lord whom death could not hold. Together with Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women and disciples, we consider the mystery of…
Throughout the lectionary readings this week, we see hints of Jesus’ crucifixion and how we are called to lose our lives in His life. As Jesus was persecuted, we are given the command to give of ourselves in love as well. Though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else…
Sometimes culture views the Christian God of judgment, and while this is true about God’s fairness, it neglects God’s love and restoration of the human being. As we consider the God whom Jesus portrays as the father in the story of the prodigal, we consider a God who has given grace and forgiveness. And he…
The readings this week are about repentance, and so it makes sense that we talk about how we are called to something greater than simple songs in our worship, but how we are turned around by God in our repentance. “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel.…
The Word of God is something that is central to all of these readings, and as we see in the readings, the prophetic Word of God often causes sinners to reject it when they hear it. As we consider the use of Word in worship, from the readings to the other places where God’s Word…
This week’s readings all tell us something about the concept of worship, which kicks off our Lenten series about what worship is and how we worship. We see that throughout time – from the Israelites worshiping in Deuteronomy to Paul’s understanding of the Word being near – that God works in and through worship to…
The “celebration” of Ash Wednesday is actually the beginning of a fast, the fast of Lent. Throughout the Bible, God’s faithful people would memorialize a time when they saw that they had to turn around and repent (the word “repent” literally means to turn around). It was a time of recognizing where one had lost…
About the 4th Sunday after Epiphany: In this Sunday’s Gospel from the lectionary we have another incidence of Jesus performing miracles, but here it is specifically His healing and demon-casting miracles that are highlighted. We consider what it means for Jesus to be not only the healer of the body, but also his divinity that…